Meeting with Graham Watson MEP

Today, Sat 19th March, we met with Graham Watson our Langport-based MEP, to discuss the broadband provision in the village. We were pleased to see so many people there, proving this is an issue that affects most of Aller.

Parish Council Chair, Gerard Tucker with Graham Watson MEP

There are moves to get grant funding from central government to install high speed broadband across a large part of the West Country, being led by Somerset County Council. Graham Watson suggested we contact our local County Councillor, Derek Yeomans, to enlist his support, as the campaign goes to a meeting on 28th March. If you have a particular issue with broadband, or simply want to apply pressure to get our situation improved, contact Derek soon.  I will be writing to him to present the results of our survey, and so will Gerard, on behalf of the Parish Council, who are supporting our local campaign.
Fast broadband that only reaches 85% of households in Somerset is still probably going to leave parts or even all of Aller poorly provided for, and it's likely to take 18months at least to implement. I would prefer to see a reliable, affordable, lower speed solution that reaches every property, implemented in a much shorter timeframe. We continue to investigate other options.
We welcome comments from villagers, and encourage everyone who can to complete the survey.